Wishing On Stars
by Morghen
Summary: Aaralyn discovers Regulus' secret one night and tries to talk him out of it. Will she be successful? Using OCs from my old story "It Doesn't Really Matter." Not a Mary-Sue! Please read and review. WARNING: One swear word


"_Don't tell me you're done for_

_Don't need to hear you're done for_

_But you can tell me what you're running from"_

"I just want to talk to you," the Ravenclaw called, her voice a mixture between pain and annoyance. The boy who had just rushed pass her stopped in the empty corridor, his back still facing her. The action surprised the girl – she hadn't expected him to stop. He had been ignoring all of her recent attempts to get in touch with him and she had doubted that that night would be any different. Aaralyn couldn't help but wonder why the change of heart…

The Slytherin turned around and walked back towards the girl slowly; he stopped before he got too close. Regulus kept his gaze pointing towards the floor as he questioned coldly, "What do you want?" His tone was icy and guarded – it had changed greatly from the last time that they had spoken over a year ago.

The seventh-year took a step closer to Black, wanting to get a better look. She was barely able to make out his features in the dimly lit corridor; however, what she could see caused her heart to ache. His once shiny ebony hair had become dull and tangled. His face had always been considered white, but now his complexion was ghost-like. His cheek bones protruded from his face, a reminder of his steady loss of weight. Aaralyn had realized that he was badly off, but she hadn't been prepared for such a change. Regulus truly looked as if he was on the verge of death. After she was able to regain her composure, she asked him, "Are you going to talk or are you going to just run away again?"

"It matters what you want to talk about," he replied, tersely.

She nodded her head, causing her lengthy dark hair to bob with it. "Why are you out so late?"

"Thinking…," Regulus said.

"About?"

His grey eyes narrowed at her question – she could tell that he did not want to answer her. "Why do you care?"

The dark-haired Ravenclaw turned away suddenly and walked towards the wall. She sat down on the cool floor, her back resting up against a stone pillar. Once she had settled herself as comfortably as she could she looked back up at Regulus. He had not moved from his spot and appeared to have no intentions to move. "Sit down," Aaralyn ordered with mock authority.

"It's already past curfew – I have to go…"

Aaralyn pointed to the badge on her chest as she replied, "I'm a prefect – if you don't sit, I'll give you a detention." She smirked at him as she patted the floor beside her.

Black opened his mouth to argue with her, but he closed it before any words made it out. Seeing that resisting the prefect's request would not get him anywhere, he sat down across from her.

"So you want to know why I care?" she asked, her eyes resting on his gaunt face. Regulus looked up at her but did not reply. "I want to make sure you're doing all right… I'm scared for you, Regulus." They might have ended their relationship and friendship in their fifth year, but that did not stop Aaralyn from caring about the Slytherin's well being. Sometimes she thought that she might care too much for her own good.

Black scoffed, "If I'm doing all right? I'm weeks away from my death – yeah, I'm perfectly fine." His slate eyes widened, as did her blue ones, when he realized what he had just confessed. "Shit," he cursed as he went to rise to his feet. He had already said enough and had no plans to sit and spill the rest of his secrets.

Aaralyn reached forward and wrapped her fingers around his thin wrist when she saw him getting ready to leave. Her eyes filled to the brim with concern and confusion as she tried to understand what he had meant by that. "You're… What… Why?" she stumbled on her words, her voice a hushed whisper.

Regulus pulled his wrist from her grip but didn't continue to leave once he was free. Instead, he looked her straight in the eyes, saying, "Just forget I said anything. It doesn't matter."

Aaralyn Doves was not usually nosy, but she couldn't let something this serious go. "What's going on?" she questioned, her voice stern.

His cold gaze met her warm one again as he tried desperately to think up an answer that would satisfy her, but without telling her the truth. He didn't want her to try and intervene – he had already made up his mind and her attempts to change it would just be in vain. "I've been sick, that's all," he told her lamely.

The prefect raised her dark eyebrows at him. "Don't you lie to me, Black," she warned.

He didn't reply right away. He had known before he'd even lied that there was no way she would believe him. Grey on blue, he asked, "Then what do you want me to say?"

Her face scrunched with frustration, her patience running on low. "Would it really hurt you to tell me the truth? For once?" Aaralyn shot at him bitterly.

Regulus ran his hand through his black hair, as he thought – a habit that he had picked up from his elder brother years previous. "Fine," he spat. "If you really need to know, I'm going to die," he said simply, as if he were talking to her about the next day's weather.

Aaralyn reached out slowly for his hand and was surprised when he didn't pull away from her touch. She squeezed it comfortingly. "Is it _him_? Is You-Know-Who going to do it?" she asked, a chill running the length of her back as the last sentence formed on her tongue.

He shook his head as he said, "No."

"Then why?"

"I'm going to do it…"

The Ravenclaw's brow narrowed in confusion. "You're going to commit suicide…?"

"I suppose you could say I committed suicide the minute I was Marked…," Regulus answered bitterly. "But what I'm going to do, no, I wouldn't call it that… More like becoming alive again…."

"What are you saying…?"

"Well, I'm-" He paused, trying to think how to put his plan into words. He had never planned on telling anyone what he was going to do. Aaralyn had always had some sort of control over him, as much as he hated to admit it. He always felt as if he could tell her everything – all of his darkest demons and deepest secrets. "I've… Well, I've discovered how to bring You-Know-Who down," he confided.

Aaralyn looked surprised at this new information. It was not what she had expected him to say. "But that's a _good_ thing. Why do you have to die? People will forget that you were ever on his side if you do something like that…"

A pained expression appeared on his haughty face. "It's not that easy… To take his life, I have to give mine. It's something that I have to do, though. It's my way of redeeming myself…"

"_You think that no one needs you.  
You have nothing to see through.  
Well I need you.  
Don't I count?  
Let's fight."_

Aaralyn's eyes began to get watery as she heard his words. She shook her head side to side as the reality of Regulus' plan hit her. "No," she said, half to herself. "There has to be a different choice – some other way…"

The Death Eater gripped her hand in his and breathed in deeply. He hadn't expected her to see his view – damn, he hadn't expected to be there telling her his plan. He didn't believe that anyone could truly understand his reasoning behind giving up his life unless they were in his place. Even then, he couldn't picture a single other follower of the Dark Lord ever giving up his or her life to save others. Maybe he was going crazy, maybe he was wrong about his choice… What other option did he have? He outright refused to go into hiding – he was finished playing the coward. "This is what I want," Regulus told her reassuringly.

"But how can you want to die?" the Ravenclaw asked, despair filling her voice. "You're young – you have so much life left… How can you want to lose that?"

"Don't you see?" he asked her, taking her shoulders in his hands. "I don't really have any time left – I'm dead inside, if you think about it. What do I have that I can look forward to? I've lost Sirius, I've lost Aleron, I've – I've lost you. My life is a living hell and this is my one chance to make it actually mean something. This is the one time I can make a difference – a _good_ difference. And y'know what? If I have to die in return, then I'm okay with that."

Not thinking twice about it, Aaralyn leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his bony figure, burying her face into his neck. "Would I be enough to make you stay?" she asked him, her voice muffled.

He placed a hand on the small of her back and used the other to pat her head consolingly. "I've already made up my mind…"

The prefect lifted her head up, trying to regain some control over her actions. She, however, did not pull away from him, which surprised him. "You never really lost me… I mean, I never truly hated you – I was mad, yes, but I never hated you."

Black wiped off the tears that stained her porcelain cheeks. The edges of his mouth curled slightly upwards as she told him that.

"Why are you smiling?"

"It's nice to know that someone who isn't _one of them_ doesn't hate me… Comforting, I guess you could say."

Their eyes met and a barely visible smile played on Aaralyn's lips. Regulus had to use every last ounce of self control that he possessed not to leaned forward and snog her right there. This wasn't like it used to be and it never could be. They may have ended up in one another's arms that night, but he knew that it couldn't happen ever again. He looked away from her, adverting his steel eyes to the suit of armor that stood down the corridor.

It was Aaralyn, though, who moved her hands to his pale cheeks, turning his face back in her direction. She hesitated a moment, giving him the opportunity to tell her "no" or to turn away. When he didn't, the Ravenclaw pushed her lips up against his. The familiar feeling of their lips moving against each other's fulfilled the nostalgia that both of them had been experiencing minutes before.

The kiss only lasted a short time – just barely long enough for them each to be flooded with memories from their fifth year. As they pulled away it felt as if both of their heavens were crashing in perfectly bittersweet harmony. They both knew all too well that they could never share such an embrace again, but they both felt something so close, yet so far away, from satisfaction. It may have to be the last affection exchanged between the two opposites, but Regulus and Aaralyn were both pleased that they had shared it.

Aaralyn silently rose to her feet, Regulus close behind her. They both had a similar expression of somberness on their faces.

"I have to go," she told him, turning to walk down the hallway and back to the Ravenclaw common room.

"_I wanna scream.  
Wanna scream your name.  
Star light, star bright, can save.  
You're my wish tonight."_

He reached out and took hold of her hand. "Wait," he said, making up his mind quickly. "I need to tell you something. I –errr – I love you, Aaralyn..."

Blue eyes dancing with a bittersweet mixture of joy and pain, she replied, "I love you, too." Aaralyn paused for a moment and then asked, even though she already knew the answer, "It still doesn't change your decision, does it?"

"No… I wish it could've ended differently…"

"Me, too," Aaralyn replied solemnly. She glanced at him once more before turning her back and leaving him in the dimly lit corridor. She knew, deep down, that there was no chance of him changing his mind. It didn't stop her from wishing that he would, though. But, truthfully, if love couldn't keep him with her, than some meaningless words whispered to herself wouldn't either and she knew it.

* * *

**The lyrics used are from Meg and Dia's amazing song "Nineteen Stars." It's DEFINITELY worth listening to, I promise.**

**:D**

**Aaralyn Doves is my OC that I created for my first ever fanfiction story "It Doesn't Really Matter." The story is obviously not great, considering almost all of the chapters are unbetaed and it was my first fic. I really like some of the OCs that I created for it so I've decided to try and develop them more in oneshots. Aleron Radu was mentioned in this fic by Reggie at one point and he is another one of my OCs. Aleron was Regulus' best friend and fellow Slytherin until he found out that Regulus had taken on the Dark Mark. **

**Fangz mew so much for betaing and encouraging me to write this! *Hands some more Remmius fan art***

**XD  
**


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